shoddy headlights

[davenl5l]

this has more than likly been discussed to death if so sorry im new but what is it with headlights? poorly adjusted .only one working,one on high other on low then theres also driving lights on not only bright and dangerous in the wet on bad sa roads but also illeagal in sa. sorry just had to vent im so sick of it as i do a lot of klm,s at night in the country!

[geckoGT]

I know your pain, annoys me as well. My biggest pet hate is all those 4WD owners with poorly adjusted low beam that is set way too high. They end up just as bad as a high beam on any other car, made worse when they have to sit on your back bumper as well.

Hint to all the 4WD owners, if your low beam lights up the rear glass of the car in front, you are too close and you are being obnoxious.

[SEZ213]

Originally Posted by geckoGT

I know your pain, annoys me as well. My biggest pet hate is all those 4WD owners with poorly adjusted low beam that is set way too high. They end up just as bad as a high beam on any other car, made worse when they have to sit on your back bumper as well.

Hint to all the 4WD owners, if your low beam lights up the rear glass of the car in front, you are too close and you are being obnoxious.

Sounds like a standard trip to Maryborough to me...

[HULK EF]

Hates all the fog lights lit up on clear nights.. GGGGRRR!!!!!!

[aussie muscle]

it seems people haven't got the message about using driving lights/fog lights in good conditions. every second car has their extra lights turned on.

[DJM83]

Not to mention the idiots that cant even turn them on in the night time. One thing i miss in my car is it doesnt have auto lights my old AU did as i drive with them on in the day time too.

[duaned]

Originally Posted by DJM83

Not to mention the idiots that cant even turn them on in the night time. One thing i miss in my car is it doesnt have auto lights my old AU did as i drive with them on in the day time too.

Agreed, it always makes me wonder how these type of people manage to deal with day to day life even though they are too stupid and dumb to realise their lights are not on driving at night. I see this situation most evenings here in Newcastle. In general, this place has a large quantity of stupid people anyway, but how they get away with it is beyond me.

[Ben73]

Go around on a Thursday night and every second car in my area has no lights on.
They get into there cars in a well lit shopping centre carpark, then drive all the way home with no lights on.
I followed 1 car for about 5 kms with no lights on at about 9pm one night. How stupid can you be.

I seriously don't care about most fog lights. There are a few that are bright, But most at not annoying.
Don't stare at them and they wont affect you much at all.

[davenl5l]

trust me i dont stare but on narrow country roads with no fog line painted on the left and poor bitumen the same colour as the verge its like high beam the problem is even worse in the wet also most of the offenders are adelaide people rushing home from there shacks on sunday night from yorke penninsular and dont think that any road rules apply to them eg. speeding,tailgating and overtaking on double lines or they drive slow until they come to the overtaking lane then speed up so you cant pass.end of rant/winge

[TheInterceptor]

The yellow fog lamps im not fussed about. Driving lamps also not to annoying unless bright as.

Driving with HIGH BEAMS on really irks me something huge, shortly followed by no lights.

I dont understand why something so simple can be stuffed up.

[geckoGT]

Here we go, fog lights again, bored now.

The thread is about poorly adjusted head lights (i.e high and low beam), not fog lights.

By the way, driving light (AKA spotties) are an extra set of lights operated on a separate switch and linked to the high beam, they project at the same level as the high beam and are normally a higher wattage than high beam with a more focussed beam (although may incorporate a spot and spread beam combo). Fog lights are set lower than the low beam, on a separate switch and are linked to the park lights. DRL (daytime running lights) are normally LED's (or sometimes HID's running a lower voltage) that are illuminated when the ignition is on and turned off when the low beam are turned on. Just thought I would point that out as some here have great difficulty with definitions, especially between driving light and fog lights.

[Jim Goose]

Seems to be quite common, see lots of cars here at night with at least one headlight pointing up or sideways etc.... can only assume these cars have been in acidents and have never had headlights re-adjusted.

Worse are those stupid light globes which change colour (cant remember what their called). They go from blue, to white to yellow and are quite distracting and dangerous.

[Keepleft]

Originally Posted by TheInterceptor

The yellow fog lamps im not fussed about. Driving lamps also not to annoying unless bright as

Driving lamps only work with the headlamp high-beam function. 99% of factory front fog lamps are "white optic", otherwise "selective yellow", and in AUS- operate when the headlight switch is on park, low and high-beam, AND that the front fog switch is ON.

Driving with HIGH BEAMS on really irks me something huge, shortly followed by no lights.

Agreed, particularly with the latter bit.

I dont understand why something so simple can be stuffed up.

Well; .....

[|Nate]

Jim what you are referring to could be the twinkle from some projector globes on some euro/jap cars.

When they change colour to your eyes, it's just the brim of light focus:


Although I could be completely wrong. I just think it must be that, as shown by the photo where the top of the light output eventually goes to a blue tinge.

On the thread topic, I HATE 4x4's with badly aligned headlights, and I HATE fools driving at night with parkers/ Fog lights only combo.

I once over took a truck that had his high beams and 4 spotties on, it absolutely killed my vision.

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by zxctive

Jim what you are referring to could be the twinkle from some projector globes on some euro/jap cars.



Although I could be completely wrong. I just think it must be that, as shown by the photo where the top of the light output eventually goes to a blue tinge.

Yea they seem to change colour depending on angle of view and whenever you hit a bump in the road etc... even those light blue "ice?" colour doesnt work well with my eyes and seem to be more blinding then regular coloured headlamps

[geckoGT]

I have seen a few HID headlights (the ones that seem to change colour on the edges) that are bright and annoying, interestingly the annoying ones are normally on cars that did not come equipped with them. Seems there might be reason the conversion kits are often not ADR compliant and not legal for road use. I find most of the OEM HID's are ok.

The HID's on our new mini seem ok but they have an automatic adjustment system on them. The light from our point of view is far superior to any halogen system I have ever seen, even the B series falcon lights lights which were very good for factory lights.

[|Nate]

Yeah it is interesting how some OEM HID cars have poorly adjusted beams out of the factory.

IMO, it's a lot of Mazda projector globes, they seem to not be aligned correctly.

Admittedly, I run 35w 6000k HID's in my EB and I don't find them to cause glare at all. I actually find that it's easier on my eyes seeing those come at me rather than factory globes.

[MAD]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you can not fit HID globes to a stock halogen reflector and expect to have no glare to on coming drivers.
No matter how much you want it to, it's not gunna happen.
The ONLY way to have no glare with HID bulbs is to use a HID specific optical device.

more reading here...
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html

I actually like the twinkle/flicker from new cars fitted with HID headlights. Honda Accord Euro, Mazda 3 MPS, multitude of BMW's, some new Audi's, but I hate SUV's fitted with HIDs, especially the new Land Rover. I've been blinded a few times by one. It certainly makes them stand out from a distance without being blinding at all.

[nstg8a]

Originally Posted by zxctive

Admittedly, I run 35w 6000k HID's in my EB and I don't find them to cause glare at all. I actually find that it's easier on my eyes seeing those come at me rather than factory globes.

but how often do you really see your own car coming towards you?

[uranium_death]

In Glen Waverley and the massive amount of ricer peckerheads about, a MASSIVE number of cars with poorly-fitted white-headlights that blind the hell out of you on low beam...
One goon with a VT Commodore even has them...

The cops need to crack down on illegally-fitted headlights that simply do not belong in suburban Melbourne...

[Matty4]

I think that part of the problem these days with people driving at night without headlights on is the number of vehicles fitted with these electro-luminescient dash displays that light up once the ignition is on. In older model cars the dash didn't illuminate until you turned on the parkers and/or headlights, therefore you couldn't read the instruments.

A lot of people (I suspect) look at the dash at night and can see the instruments illuminated and with the amount of ambient street lighting around in the cities that enable you to see just as well without headlights on increases this problem.

We have Klugers as work vehicles (yeah, yeah, I know!!!) and unless you look for the very small warning light in the cluster to tell you the lights are on, you wouldn't know.

[WMD351]

Here's a breakdown of the relevant ADRs regarding HIDs
http://www.mobileelectronics.com.au/...1#entry1000311

So there you go, after all the lawyer speak and technical jargon. If the HID fitting isn't self levelling, doesn't have a headlamp cleaning system and isn't white (as in, white), then it's illegal.

[geckoGT]

Originally Posted by Matty4

I think that part of the problem these days with people driving at night without headlights on is the number of vehicles fitted with these electro-luminescient dash displays that light up once the ignition is on. In older model cars the dash didn't illuminate until you turned on the parkers and/or headlights, therefore you couldn't read the instruments.

A lot of people (I suspect) look at the dash at night and can see the instruments illuminated and with the amount of ambient street lighting around in the cities that enable you to see just as well without headlights on increases this problem.

We have Klugers as work vehicles (yeah, yeah, I know!!!) and unless you look for the very small warning light in the cluster to tell you the lights are on, you wouldn't know.

Very interesting point you have there and I can see how that would be a factor in a small number of cases. Having said that, I constantly see people driving without lights on and their car is way too old to have that problem. In that case it is nothing but incompetence. Any way you cut it, it shows a lack of attention and a lack of responsibility even if it is a one off occurrence.

[Ben73]

Ford festivas seam to have brighter then normal low beam.
The bluey white lights on modern cars are great. To me they seam to stand out more but are not the slightest bit dazzling.

[WMD351]

Originally Posted by geckoGT

Very interesting point you have there and I can see how that would be a factor in a small number of cases. Having said that, I constantly see people driving without lights on and their car is way too old to have that problem. In that case it is nothing but incompetence. Any way you cut it, it shows a lack of attention and a lack of responsibility even if it is a one off occurrence.

Forgetting to turn the lights on is also a very common indicator of somebody who has had a few too many drinks.